Fortnight Ending September 30

Week Ending September 23

Mon - 4 miles easy on the bike paths pushing Stella while Alistair was at X-C practice.

Tues - 7 miles track. Workout: 800 open, then 2 x broken mile (3x300 hard w/100 float, 400 hard), broken 1,200 (800, 100 float, 300), 400 jog between miles/1,200. A 2:36 warm-up 800, then miles were both 5:26, followed by 2:39, 56 for broken 1,200. One mile up, 2 mile down. Lazy again.

Weds - 4 miles easy on the bike paths pushing Stella while Alistair was at X-C practice.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles w/5 @ tempo (1,400'). Back to Centennial for the HTH5MO@B, this time with Eric, Mike and Slush. Five out easy in 44 mins, then 30:43 back (7:22, 6:11, 6:33, 5:40, 4:57). Three minutes or so faster than last week, after setting the effort early by pushing the north dam hill a little harder. Could have pushed middle miles a little better, but decided to keep this at a true tempo effort. Overall, the effort to pace ratio felt much better than last week, which was slow and slogworthy at what felt like too hard of an effort for the actual pace.
PM: 7.5 miles super easy with the FCTR crew at Pineridge.

Fri - Noon: 6.5 miles (1,700') easy. Horsetooth south summit via Slush's Slit.

Sat - AM: 11 miles (1,300') easy to Devil's Backbone from home via Bluesky Trail w/Slush. Stopped along the way to check out the high point of the Bone, which is ranked a 5.1 climb. The line I looked at on the south side of the rock, which seemed the most logical, was IMO significantly tougher than 5.1 - especially as a down climb. I will need to come back when I have more time to scope other options as I bailed at the committing crux, not liking at all like the looks of down climbing there.
PM: 4.5 miles peakbagging (1,100'). Picked up a couple of Larimer ranked peaks down by Carter Lake with a quick two-hour window. 6,227' on the southeast corner of Carter Lake was easy enough. Just followed the trail from the campground north, then cut west up the first gulley and headed in a northwesterly direction for the summit through sparse trees and scrub. A few houses/properties to work around, but easily done. The summit is basically a cliff band with four or five candidates for the high point. Tagged them all to make sure. 6,300' was more of a pain in the arse. The logical way to summit this prominent hogback would be via the steeper west slope, but there is zero cover and a bunch of properties, so I decided to come up the northeast ridge, which looked to have some good cover thanks to a rock band which I figured I'd follow. The scrub was pretty thick, but negotiable thanks to heavy game traffic. Encountered a property that I couldn't see from below when scoping the original line, which was avoidable by dropping a little lower on the ridge below the rock band, and then it was a straightforward hoof to the summit. Nice views of the lake from there. Coming back down, I ended up heading due east to avoid the one property, but ended up having to skirt an even bigger property and then bushwahck pretty heavily after getting barked at by a very large dog in order to get to a spot where I could cross the aqueduct and connect with roads to get back to my car. Every time I do one of these dodgy peaks, I find myself questioning my sanity, but hey, just 199 ranked Larimer County peaks left to get.  

Sunday: 4.5 miles hiking (1,500'). Horsetooth summit with Alistair and Stella. I goaded Alistair into setting a time standard for Horsetooth (up and down). The goal was to go under an hour for the climb and under an hour again for the descent. Alistair stayed focused the whole way, just missing out on his ascent goal by two minutes. We took a 25 minute picnic break on the summit before descending in 54 minutes. Pretty sure Alistair could run the whole descent, but because I had Stella on my back he had to wait for me and my fast hike pace, plus we stopped to check out a rattlesnake for a few minutes and also play in other random spots along the way. Next time we'll do it solo to set a real standard. Alistair's seventh Horsetooth summit of the year. My 70th, I think.

 

Check out the rattler halfway through the vid. 

Total: 59 miles (7,000')

Week Ending September 30

Mon - 4 miles jogging stroller on bike paths while Alistair was at X-C practice.

Tues - 6 miles track workout: 3x800, lap jog, 400, 1,600, 2x400 in: 2:37, 2:32, 2:35, :71, 5:14, :74, :70. Relay style, 2:30 static rest between 800s, then lap jog, 400, then 3:00 static rest, mile, lap jog, 70 rest between 400s. This was a promising workout given that I really want to start focusing on speed over quantity through the off season. The mile was about 5-10 seconds faster than I have been doing them this summer at the track, with just a bit more focus and effort - 4s and 8s were also a bit faster. This is the kind of effort I need to start putting in if I am going to improve road times this winter/spring. Can't wait.

Weds - 5 miles (1,500') easy with Al_Wesir to Horsetooth middle summit. Super easy jog to the base of the rock, waited around forever for Brian to make it up, and then we hit the middle rock chimney. Rocks were wet from the night before so we had to be a little cautious, but otherwise it was pretty straightforward getting up. Brian ended up giving me a leg down on the crux chockstone coming down as I was faffing around too much. Beautiful fall morning.

Thurs - Off

Fri - Off

Sat - 62 miles (11,000') race. UROC 100k.

Sun - Off 

Total: 77 miles (12,500')

Well that'll just about do it for the season. I kind of felt like I was going through the motions a bit out in Virginia on Saturday, and definitely feel like I'm ready to take a break from destroying myself over uber-long distances. I'm now really looking forward to cutting my mileage, running some shorter distance trail and road races, bagging a whole bunch of obscure Larimer County peaks and engaging in the local off-season running festivities.  

Local Running Festivities

First up is Slush's Runners Without Borders, which this year will feature MAGIC TOKENS. Yes, you read that right people, MAGIC TOKENS. All details will be posted over at his joint, with preliminary instructions here. Last year, the event was a ton of fun and raised over $4,000 for Doctors Without Borders. This year Scott says we're going to top both the fun factor and donation totals, so come on out SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28th (8:00 am - 4:00 pm) and join the fun, or go to Scott's website and register your support for the work of Doctors Without Borders with a donation, or - better yet - do both!

Second up is the third annual Chubby Cheeks fatass race ... er ... run. The date has been set for December 8 with starts at 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00. Route options are the same (32 miles with gobs of climbing, 25 miles with bags of climbing, 20 miles with a hill or two, whatever miles and climbing) as are all details really. Back to my place between 2:00 & 3:00 for beers, food and good times.

Third up is the Tortoise and Hare handicapped race series, which begins with a 4k at Rolland Moore park next Sunday at 8:00 a.m. I'll be RD'ing the series again this year, so hope to see some of you out there. The T&H series is a super low key set of seven races with runners setting off at staggered starts according to handicaps based on previous races. Everyone has an equal chance of winning, regardless of ability, and we have cash prizes at the end of the series. Better yet, Fort Collins Running Club members run free and even get post-race bagel spreads at Rocky Mountain Bagel Works. You read that right, a $20 membership gets you seven free races, seven free breakfasts, and a chance to win up to $100. Better yet, if you plan on running the Horsetooth Half next spring, then your membership gets you a $20 discount. Best running deal in town right there.   

Fourth up is the Race That Will Not Be Mentioned, which takes place Thursday, Dec 6th at 6:00 p.m.

Fifth up is the second annual Quad Rock 25 & 50 mile races. We have set the date for May 11, 2013. The course was not impacted by the High Park fire so it will be the same great route for the same great price. We are in preliminary discussions with sponsors and vendors, but the event focus will be much the same as last year: great course, impeccable marking, great awards, great food, great music, and tons of fun for everyone. Registration will open in December.

That's all I got.

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January: 330 miles (45,200')
February: 445 miles (58,500')
March: 501.5 (79,600')
April: 430 (66,800')
May: 387.5 (70,700')
June: 297.5 (48,500') 
July: 369 (71,100')
August: 330.5 (67,100')
September: 344 (65,000')

Total: 3,435 miles (572,500')
Avg: 382 miles (63,611')
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2012 Summits (149):
.......................................
Horsetooth (7,255') (67)
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Mount Elbert (14,443')
Longs Peak (2) (14,259')
Mount Belford (2) (14,197')
Mount Oxford (14,153')
Missouri Mountain (14,067')
Pacific Peak (13,950')
Emerald Peak (13,904')
Crystal Peak (13,852')
Atlantic Peak (13,841')
Iowa Peak (13,831')
Hagues Peak (2) (13,571')
Ypsilon Mountain (13,514')
Fairchild Mountain (13,502')
Mummy Mountain (13,425')
McHenrys Peak (13,327')
Pecks Peak (13,277')
Whitney Peak (13,271')
Powell Peak (13,208')
Taylor Peak (13,153')
Mount Chiquita (13,069')
West Mount Sheridan (12,952')
East Desolation Peak (12,949')
Julian (12,928')
West Desolation Peak (12,918')
Mount Ida (12,880')
Point 12,820' (Chorier Point)
Chief Cheley (12,804')
Cracktop (12,766')
Terra Tomah (12,718')
Hallet Peak (12,713')
Otis Peak (12,486')
Mount Chapin (12,454')
Flattop Mtn (12,324')
Marmot Point W(12,005')
Marmot Point E (11,909')
Twin Sisters (11,420')
Mount Baldy (11,068')
Estes Cone (11,006')
Hidden Peak (10,992') (2)
Lookout Mountain (10,626')
Storm Mountain (9,918')
Lily Mountain (9,786')
Crosier Mountain (9,250') (4)
Pilot Hill (8,829')
Mount Ethel (8,471')
8,415' (Leila Peak)
Triangle Mountain (8,415')
Buckhorn Mountain (8,341')
8,310'
Round Mountain (8,250') (4)
Palisade Mountain (8,225')
8,194' (Giant Boulder Point)
Alexander Mountain (8,144')
Spruce Mountain (7,781')
Sullivan Stump (7,778')
7,725'
7,567'
7,470'
Green Ridge (7,402')
Green Mountain (7,335')
7,260' (Ziggy Point)
7,178'
7,098' (Poll Mtn range)
Table Mountain (7,074')
Arthurs Rock (6,780') (5)
Milner Mountain (6,893')
6,300'
6,227'
5,773' or 'Aggie Peak'
5,740' (Hwy 34 B4 Narrows) (1)
5,740' (Off Masonville Rd) (2)
Reservoir Ridge (5,735')
Goat Hill (5,604')
Aitxuri (1,551 meters) 
Aizkorri (1,528 meters)
Aratz (1,443 meters)
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